Star Bite #1 is the first chapter of the web anthlogy Epithet Star Bites. Released on Aug 17, 2026, it follows Trixie Roughhouse attempting to find Phoenica Fleecity, eventually locating her at The Juice Joint, a bar for troublemaking kids.[1] It is a sequel to Prison of Plastic.
Prompts
- The Neo Trio walk into a bar to commiserate their troubles film noir fashion. - Flammable Zucchini
- What Trixie and Phoenica get up to when Molly's busy.- VH
Plot
Following the events of Prison of Plastic, Trixie Roughhouse has been searching the neighborhood for Phoenica Fleecity for an hour, during which they decide to check The Juice Joint. When they arrive in the "bad part of town". Trixie attempts to a cool one-liner multiple times before spotting the Joint: a bar for seven-to-seventeen year old troublemakers.
While normally Pheonica wouldn't approach the place, the past rough week made her break that belief. She went inside, leaving the bike against a telephone pole, naively leaving it unprotected. Trixie looks for her, spotting a hoard of young bystanders around the bike debating if it was an actual bike they could steal or a sting operation. Trixie picks the bike up and carries it through the bikestanders and approaches the joint. The bouncer, Brick Hamshunkle, stops her and tells her he wants no trouble, reminding Trixie that the Roughhouse family has been so destructive to the business that the entire family is banned for life. This reminds Trixie, that, since they were five-year-old, they have always wanted to work as a bartender here serving potions but never got the chance to even work there before they were banned due to the preemptive family mandate.
Trixie explains that they were looking for Pheonica, to which Brick says she bought three rounds of drinks for the entire bar. Trixie thought of the unfairness that Phoenica got in before her, but they rein herself in because it wasn't Pheonica's fault. Trixie states they won't be in there long before they push the bike into his hands, telling him to hold it. Trixie swiftly goes inside and pulls up her hood. They scan the bar and spots the wanted posters of her siblings, including her twin brother Rex Roughhouse who, like her, had never been inside. They hope to correct this unfairness by ripping it down.
Trixie then spots Pheonica asking the bartender for another bubble water. they notice the minor details indicting her emotional crisis, so they approach her and asks what she was doing here. Flustered, Pheonica explains that she has been in a bad mental state since Molly went missing. Pheonica has been thinking about Molly's academics, loosing sleep because of it. She shows Trixie a photo of her math quiz, distraught that she got two questions wrong. She keeps spiraling, asking the bartender for a glass of milk instead of the "cheap seltzer".
Pheonica loved milk, but because she was lactose intolerant, Trixie attempts to persuade her not to. This doesn't work, as the bartender pours Pheonica a glass of milk anyway. Pheonica and Trixie tussle, but Pheonica succeeds in drinking the milk. She then slams against the countertop as if the drink killed her, with Trixie assuring her that Molly will be okay. They offer Pheonica the chance to make bracelets, and Pheonica agrees, lamenting that she should have gone to them instead of going to the Joint. Phoenica's stomach starts to ache, so the pair starts to leave. Before they do, however, Trixie borrows money from Pheonica and lassoes it to the other side of the room. The bartender attempts to grab it, and while they are distracted, Trixie takes a piece of sticky taffy and lassoes a glob of it onto Rex's ban poster, ripping it off. Pheonica and Trixie leave before the bartender can notice, with Trixie hoping they could eventually take their poster off, and their main concern being to make Pheonica "something special".
